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Briefs

Pakistan Security Brief

June 30 marks first day of ground operations phase of North Waziristan offensive; Pakistan Army kills TTP’s Miram Shah ; Al Qaeda commander and explosives expert arrested; North Waziristan residents continue to travel to Khost and Paktika provinces in Afghanistan, as well as Bannu and other Pakistani IDP camps; President Karzai reveals conditions for Afghan cooperation with North Waziristan offensive.

North Waziristan Offensive

The Director General (DG) of the Pakistan Army’s Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) announced that June 30 marked the beginning of the ground operation in North Waziristan. On the first day of ground operations, firefights between Pakistan Army soldiers and militants killed 15 militants and injured three soldiers in the city of Miram Shah. Infantry and the soldiers from the Special Services Group (SSG) began a house-to-house search of Miram Shah on June 30. BBC News Asia reported that because the operation in North Waziristan took several days to begin in full, many Al Qaeda and Taliban militants have escaped to other parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan while others are hiding in more remote areas of North Waziristan. Military forces have found underground tunnels and Improvised Explosive Device (IED) preparation factories. Troops are also focusing on other areas with high militant concentrations, like Mir Ali. Since the offensive’s launch, the Pakistani military claims it has destroyed 61 militant hideouts and killed 376 militants, had 19 militants surrender, and suffered 17 soldiers killed in action. There have been no claims from the military of civilian casualties as of now.[1]

Dawn reported that airstrikes on June 29 killed 16 militants and destroyed an unconfirmed number of hideouts and an ammunition cache around the city of Mir Ali in North Waziristan Agency.[2]

Security forces on June 29 asked all civilians still in North Waziristan Agency to leave before they launch the imminent ground offensive. A conference of political parties met in Peshawar on June 29 to discuss the impact of the military operation and criticized the government’s decision to launch the military operation without a specific timeframe. The conference, convened by the government of Khyber-Paktunkhwa Province, included Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, Awami National Party, Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).[3]

On June 28, DG ISPR Gen. Bajwa reported that three militants were arrested while attempting to cross the Indus River near Mianwali in Punjab Province. Gen. Bajwa said that crossing places are now sealed to prevent future escape attempts.[4]

Pakistani forces reportedly killed the TTP’s main commander in Miram Shah, “Commander Umer,” on the night of June 27 on the outskirts of Miram Shah. The TTP has not yet confirmed Commander Umer’s death.[6]

Security forces arrested an unnamed prominent al Qaeda commander when he tried to escape a cordoned-off area in North Waziristan. He reportedly specializes in making explosives, IEDs and suicide belts.[7]

Internally Displaced Persons/ Refugee Crisis

The Federally Administered Tribal Areas Disaster Management Authority reported on June 29 that Saidgai checkpoint has registered 456, 508 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) since the start of the military operation.[8]

According to DG ISPR Gen. Bajwa, IDPs at camps in Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan and Tank have continued to receive relief items including food rations and donations from around the country. June 28 marked the beginning of Ramadan. The required daytime fast and long hours of prayer for Ramadan has compounded the hardships faced by IDPs from North Waziristan residing in Bannu in Khyber Agency.[9]

A Field Medical Hospital has been set up to assist over 5,000 sick or injured IDPs at Khalifa Gul Nawaz, Bannu. Mobile medical teams have been sent out to other areas to which IDPs have moved.[10]

On June 28, the Pakistani military announced those civilians still in North Waziristan may evacuate. The military relaxed the curfew from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm to allow civilians to leave. The government announced that it will provide each displaced family with Rs 40,000 ($405) during the first month of their displacement.[11]

As of June 27, Afghan authorities said that 21,300 Pakistani families had fled Pakistan to Khost province. Of this number, officials have registered 5,300 families. Reports from Barmal and Orgun districts in Paktika province have said that 1,000 refugee families have arrived in the area. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees estimated on June 28 that there are 85,000 displaced persons in Khost and Paktika. Officials in each province have not yet distributed cash assistance to refugees.[12]

Domestic Security

On June 29, two schools in Jazail Killay and Shnoghondo Killay respectively were blown up. There was a third blast in Mohmand Agency that destroyed an under-construction tube-well. Sources could not confirm who caused the blasts.[13]

Lahore police seized a truck filled with 40 bags of explosive material on June 29. Police stopped the truck and arrested two suspects during a routine search at the Rawal bridge checkpoint in the area of Shahdara Town of Lahore.[14]

During the morning of Sunday, June 29, militants fired four rockets that landed in the Cantonment area of Peshawar, injuring two Pakistan Army soldiers. Police said the attackers intended to hit Bacha Khan International Airport and fired the rockets from the Ghundi Afghan Refugee Camp in the area of Tekhal police station.[15]

Police in Islamabad announced their plan on June 29 to deploy an additional 2,500 security personnel to the capital city to ensure security during the holy month of Ramadan. The security personnel will specifically provide enhanced security at 720 mosques and 39 Shia congregation halls in Islamabad through the end of the month.[16]

Police from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province confirmed on June 28 that TTP commander Shahid from Darra Adam Khel carried out the Peshawar Airport attack and asked the political administration of Khyber Agency to issue a reward of Rs 10 million ($100,000) for his arrest.[17]

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister, Shujaat Azeem said at Islamabad airport on June 28 that the Pakistan Army has been tasked with securing Pakistan’s major airports alongside Rangers and Airport Security Forces. Azeem said that the Army will carry out security operations at international airports in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar. Azeem also talked to the CEOs of air carriers Emirates, Saudi Airlines and Qatar Airways on June 28 and requested that they resume flights to Peshawar’s Bacha Khan International Airport. Emirates, Saudi Arabian Airlines, and Qatar Airways indefinitely suspended flights to Peshawar’s Bacha Khan International Airport after the June 25 attack.[18]

Pakistani Foreign Relations

China has commissioned a research study on the creation of a railway that would run between Xinjiang’s western city of Kashgar and Pakistan’s deep sea port, Gwadar.[19]

General Raheel Sharif, Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff, paid a visit to the Siachin Glacier area, which Pakistan contests control of with India, on June 28 to thank the troops who serve at the high altitude post.[20]

On June 28, Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s foreign office revealed the conditions for Afghanistan’s cooperation with the ongoing military operation in North Waziristan, contained in a letter given to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif by Karzai’s security advisor on June 26 in Islamabad. Afghanistan’s cooperation depends on Pakistan combating all militant groups without discrimination, limiting civilian casualties, releasing detained Afghan Taliban leaders that are peaceful towards the Afghan state, destroying all militant hideouts and support zones, ending Pakistan’s bombardment of Afghan territory, coordinating Pak-Afghan counter-terror efforts with regional allies, and drafting a joint plan for counter-terror cooperation.[21]

On June 27, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released $555.9 million to Pakistan as part of the latest tranche in its bailout program for Pakistan. Executive directors of the IMF praised Pakistan’s macroeconomic improvement and efforts to increase foreign reserves. The loan is part of a 3-year, $6.7 billion loan package approved by the IMF on September 4.[22]

Hafiz Saeed, head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), criticized the U.S. State Departments decision to characterize JuD as a foreign terrorist organization and said the sanctions are part of a diplomatic move by the U.S. to gain India’s support in Afghanistan.[23]